If Trammell, Whitaker ever go in to Hall of Fame, they'd prefer together: That would be the dream'

Former Detroit Tigers second baseman Lou Whitaker, left, chats with former Detroit Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell during a celebration of the Tigers 1984 World Series Championship before a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Monday, June 30, 2014, in Detroit. The pair played those positions together for 19 years.
DUANE BURLESON — The Associated Press

DETROIT >> As big of an impact as the 1984 Detroit Tigers made in baseball at the time — and certainly in the hearts of millions in the area — the footprint they’ve left has been relatively minimal.

There was just the one World Series title, 30 years ago now, and as of yet no retired numbers, no Hall of Fame elections, no statues.

“(The) 1984 (squad) was probably the best team that ever walked on a baseball field, in my personal opinion,” said Lou Whitaker at Monday’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of that championship team.

“What’s good in bragging about it, telling you guys how good we were? We know how good we were.”

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History may remember the team that started 35-5 as great, but the individual players have yet to be singled out as such.

The three most likely to be honored with any sort of enshrinement — Whitaker and his double-play partner Alan Trammell, along with pitcher Jack Morris — have so far been passed over by the Hall of Fame voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Morris fell short of the needed votes for entry last year, in his 15th and final year on the ballot. Whitaker fell off after just one year, while Trammell hasn’t come close to being elected in his 13 years on the ballot.

There’s still a way, though, as all three could be up for election by the Expansion Era committee, once they’ve passed the 21-year mark out of baseball. Conceivably, they could go in together, especially Whitaker and Trammell, whose mark was as the longest-running double-play combination — a connection they replayed Monday, when they turned the ceremonial first pitch into a ceremonial double play.

That’s the way that Whitaker would prefer it to happen — together.

Trammell, too.

“I agree. If that happened, if we were ever so lucky — because we were brought up the same day — if we happened to be selected to go in together, that would be the dream. That would be the way I would script it,” said Trammell, the one-time Tigers manager, now the bench coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Now whether or not that happens, it’s out of my hands. And I get somewhat uncomfortable talking, because there’s nothing more I can do. And again, I’m not going to self-promote. That’s not my style. We knew we could play, and the stories and memories are there. If it doesn’t happen to be that, then you know what? It’s been a great ride, and I’m going to continue to enjoy this ride.”

If not a Hall of Fame plaque, maybe at least a place in the statuary beyond the center field wall at Comerica Park?

“Maybe they’re still working on it,” Whitaker joked. “They’re trying to be perfect, so it takes years to make perfection.”

Gibby’s absence understood

Several of the main cogs in that 1984 team missed Monday’s celebration for a variety of reasons.

Even though the Diamondbacks had an off day on Monday — allowing Trammell to come — the current Arizona manager, Kirk Gibson, chose not to attend.

The Waterford native and former multi-sport star at Michigan State has been to other such events in the past, but not this one, causing some public grumblings about him snubbing the organization.

Whitaker understood, though.

“Well, Kirk was a huge part of the team, but he’s got business. He’s a manager now. You can’t just rip and run on your own ball team,” said Gibson’s former teammate. “He’s gotta worry about his future, not his past. You just gotta understand that.”